Government urged to back European plans to tackle chea...

Government urged to back European plans to tackle cheap Chinese steel dumping

16 March 2016

The UK government will leave itself open to accusations of ‘selling British steel down the river’ if it continues to block moves announced today (Wednesday 16 March) to tackle the dumping of cheap Chinese steel, said Britain’s largest union, Unite.

The proposals from the European Commission, aimed at accelerating anti-dumping measures and removing the so called lesser duty rule to allow higher anti-dumping tariffs, come ahead of tomorrow’s European Council on jobs, growth and competitiveness.

Government ministers are under fire for blocking attempts to scrap the lesser duty rule while the crisis hit British steel industry battles for survival in the face of cheap Chinese imports.

Commenting Unite assistant general secretary Tony Burke said: “These are welcome moves from the European Commission to speed up and toughen up action on the dumping of cheap Chinese steel.

“It would be shameful if government ministers continued to block higher tariffs which are essential to ensuring steelmaking in the UK has a future. A failure to do so will leave the government open to accusations of selling British steel down the river.

“Ministers need to drop their nonsensical opposition to allow higher anti-dumping tariffs and back the European Commission’s plans to protect British jobs before it’s too late.”

ENDS

For further information please contact Unite head of media and campaigns Alex Flynn on 020 3371 2066 or 07967 665869.

Notes to editors

Unite is Britain and Ireland’s largest trade union with over 1.4 million members working across all sectors of the economy. The general secretary is Len McCluskey.